My social community is made up of celebs, colleagues, competitors, brands, characters, hats, dead monarchy – the list goes on…and I am very proud of this little community that I have built up myself and which I interact with daily. However, the question I asked myself last night was when does interaction become obsession?
I won’t lie – I love Twitter. I follow more than 1000 people and I enjoy the fact I only have about an hour’s worth of tweets visible in my TweetDeck at any one time. Less when the X-Factor or the Apprentice is on and the volume of Twitter traffic is high. I like using Twitter to find out what’s happening now, at this moment in time…not five hours ago – I can look at BBC website for things like that.
And this is especially true when I watch TV…I love to read what my community thinks about the programmes I watch (and even the programmes I am not watching) – whether it’s seeing what they think about Gavin’s dance, Matt’s outfit (and of course his song) or who should get fired. From a programming and PR point of view this insight can prove invaluable and today I have learned that positive Twitter comments have led to my favourite programme on TV at the moment (Giles and Sue Live the Good Life) being commissioned for a second series. YAY!
The Guardian ran an interesting piece on this phenomenon of ‘double screening’and its impact on programming decisions today. (View it here)
I think the reason I watch my Twitter stream so intently is because I love to people watch and for me Twitter is a very similar pursuit. But, last night I realised I can sometimes spend more time watching my timeline of tweets than the TV screen in my living room…
My partner, who doesn’t have a Twitter account (or Tw*tdeck as he calls it) on his phone, can’t understand my constant giggling or tutting and I suddenly saw it from his point of view…some nights I interact with these strangers more than I do with him. So I wonder…is this social community making us anti-social?
‘Double screening’ was amazing during the election debates earlier this year – and even during the voting process as people were turned away from polling stations. This will be even better (and maybe more sociable) when TVs start to offer a twitterstream alongside the programme, which they have started to do in the US. It also has the added bonus of making you feel like you’re in BAck to the Future II.
I agree that social networking has its anti-social moments though. I had a sudden moment of clarity the other day when I met a group of friends in a bar and before saying hello properly we all looked at our iPhones and checked in on Foursquare. Yes – I know I’m a geek. Mind you – I have also phoned a mate before he went into hospital because he updated his FB status saying he was having an operation. He seemed well chuffed and I only knew because of the post on FB. So it brings us together too.
Now, where’s my hoverboard?
I completely agree with the above comment, the internet is with a doubt growing into the most important medium of communication across the globe and its due to sites like this that ideas are spreading so quickly.